Queensland families who’ve been denied cheaper electricity prices are being urged to sign a petition urging the Labor Government to deregulate the power market instead of stalling for a year.

LNP Members on the Sunshine Coast said the policy paralysis and decision to defer power price deregulation for 12 months by Treasurer Curtis Pitt was the strongest indication yet that the Palaszczuk Government was just making it up on the run.

“Please help us send a message to the Labor government that we need cost of living relief now – not in a year’s time,” the Coast MP’s said.

Under the LNP Government’s plan, households would have been in a better bargaining position to shop around for cheaper prices, potentially saving them hundreds of dollars.

“Now that Labor has deferred our landmark policy because of yet another review, energy retailers will not expand into the market,” they said.

“This is bad news for competition, bad news for business and bad news for jobs, with Queensland the only state not to move to de-regulated pricing.

“We’ve already seen business confidence in Queensland plummet to a six year low because this government doesn’t know what it’s doing.

Every time Labor fiddled with the power industry, electricity costs skyrocketed.

“We saw it under Beattie and Bligh and now Annastacia Palaszczuk has taken out the trifecta – but sadly there are no winners in this scenario,” the LNP Members said.

The Petition can be found at: https://lnp.typeform.com/to/A5DIHc

FAST FACTS

• A report by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) reinforced a study done by the St Vincent de Paul Society that found consumers could save up to $475 a year by shopping around.
• Queensland is the only state not to move to de-regulated pricing.
• The LNP Government removed prescriptive reliability standards for electricity distributors, which will save Queenslanders more than $2 billion between 2015 and 2030.
• The LNP’s reforms to the Solar Bonus Scheme will save about $110 million between 2014 – 2020